Why Justine Bateman Worries That With AI 'Basically Everyone Will Be Replaced'

Justine Bateman sees the future and it is bleak. At least, she believes it will be without a strong contract for the film and television writers currently on strike in Hollywood and across the country.

Writers walked off the job in early May demanding better wages, higher residuals and much more from the studios and streaming companies. No new talks have been scheduled between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA).

Bateman — who has acted, written, produced and directed in her prolific career — says it's artificial intelligence that the writers and the entire entertainment industry need to worry most about. She also has a degree in computer science from UCLA.

LAist recently spoke with Bateman about her concerns about artificial intelligence. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Sharon McNary conducted the interview.

Listen to the full interview

Why she sees AI as a threat

LAist: You recently wrote a piece for Newsweek headlined "AI in the Arts Is the Destruction of the Film Industry. We Can't Go Quietly." How do you think artificial intelligence is going to be used in the industry if the Writers Guild and other Hollywood unions do not win strong protections in their contracts?

Justine Bateman: Well, I think basically everyone will be replaced, and this is not hyperbole. I mean, anybody can do a Google search and see where the technology is. Now, you can scan actors and use their images. You can face replace or you don't even need to scan them. You just make up a person and use them. So that replaces the actors.

You can feed in all the scripts that have ever been written that you get your hands on into an AI program and then it will spit out an amalgamation of what you've fed it. So that eliminates the writers.

The directors — you just won't need them. Because you won't need to manage a tone or a take on anything or any people. So they'll be replaced by software engineer project managers.

And then I think whoever's running these projects or this content will tap into the narcissism of humans, which is what social media's been so good at. And put people — you know, the viewer themselves — into the projects.

This is just me saying, "Hey, I see an avocado on the table and I see a clove of garlic and I see a lemon, and I see salt and pepper, and I'm pretty sure you're gonna make guacamole."

LAist: Your position is that this is on the cusp of happening?

JB: Oh, there's a lot that's already happening. There's any number of demos online. Do we have a full length film that is all AI yet? No. But I would bet a lot of money that it's being worked on right now.

About the prospect of an actors' strike

LAist: SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) is in the process of taking a strike authorization vote. What's your message for actors considering joining writers on the picket line?

JB: Well, I think it's one thing to take a writer's work and chop it up and spit out an amalgamation of it. That's pretty egregious. But to take somebody's personhood — how they look, how they sound, how they move — and take that and use that without them, that's heinous.

I think if the AMPTP gives the same answer to the Screen Actors Guild leadership as they gave to the Writers Guild leadership, which was, "We're not talking about AI. We'll discuss it with you again in a year," I don't know what choice the Screen Actors Guild would have but to strike.

Why she wants hard limits on use of AI

LAist: You write that AI has to be addressed now or never. What do you want to see in a contract that would provide adequate protection for you and others in your industry?

JB: If it were just me, I would want no AI used at all whatsoever in any of the filmmaking. Because I don't think you're gonna get anything rich and human and emotionally connected with an audience. That's my personal position. So what do I think should absolutely be in a WGA contract or a SAG contract? I can't answer that, but that's my own personal position. I would never use any of that.

What she'd do if someone used AI to create new 'Family Ties' episodes

LAist: If AI were permitted to be used on something like Family Ties, how would that affect your income, your residuals, the economics earnings on work that you did quite a long time ago?

JB: If they tried to use old episodes to generate new seasons, I would sue them with every ability, every connection I've got. That's how I feel about it. I don't wanna get paid for that. I don't want it to happen.

LAist: And that's the stakes for almost everybody in your industry.

Note: LAist reporters, producers and hosts and other content staff are members of SAG-AFTRA.